As we reported, blogger Meghan Herning analyzed Taylor Swift's appeal to white supremacists in a PopFront article from September provocatively titled "Swiftly to the alt-right: Taylor subtly gets the lower case kkk in formation". She was surprised to learn nearly a month later that the Gorgeous singer's legal team was hitting her with a cease-and-desist letter, threatening to sue for defamation.

Speaking to Newsweek, the writer said she couldn't believe the aggressive response at first:

"When I saw [the letter] at first, I didn't even think it was real. I was just kind of like, 'OK, how do I verify this?' … PopFront is a writing collective I started with a few of my friends. [I] definitely never thought she would see it."

But it didn't take long before she questioned the legitimacy of Taylor's threat and decided to contact the ACLU:

"I actually went to law school, so I understood that what they were threatening legally was not legitimate. I wanted to stand up for the principles of free speech and free press at a time when the press is really under attack by the government."

She has not heard from Swift's legal team since going public with what is now being called legal intimidation.

And although her initial mission with the piece was to make people think about "Why is it so hard to say that white supremacy is bad and racism is bad?" — now her motivation has shifted:

"Then it became: I want to make a statement for free speech. I want to make a statement about the rich not throwing their lawyers around and being able to bully people."